When her husband is incarcerated for his involvement in a tragic home invasion, Patty Dickerson must raise their newborn child in a community that is sometimes hostile to her, all the while struggling to maintain her dignity. Readers Guide available. Reprint. 25,000 first printing. *Author: ONan, Stewart *Publication Date: 2006/03/21 *Number of Pages: 312 *Binding Type: Paperback *Language: English *Depth: 0.50 *Width: 5.50 *Height: 8.25

From the Publisher:When her husband is incarcerated for his involvement in a tragic home invasion, Patty Dickerson must raise their newborn child in a community that is sometimes hostile to her, all the while struggling to maintain her dignity.

Annotation:This low-key portrait of its main character, Patty Dickerson, is outstanding for its deep and compassionate understanding of her situation. Patty is married to Tommy, who received a sentence of 25 years to life for participating in a robbery in which a woman was killed. During that time--which turns out to be 28 years--Patty gives birth to their son and does her best to raise him while she works at low-end jobs, copes with her difficult family, and braves the dehumanizing prison system to stay in touch with her husband. In the course of her ordeal, Patty finds strengths she didn't know she had, and struggles to pass them on to her son.

Author Bio

Stewart O'Nan

Stewart O'Nan was born and raised in Pittsburgh, and, in college, he studied aerospace engineering. He worked for Grumman on Long Island for several years but eventually, as he got more and more interested in writing (and less and less in the aviation industry) he returned to school for an M.F.A. at Cornell. His story collection IN THE WALLED CITY was awarded the esteemed 1993 Drue Heinz Literature Prize for Short Fiction. SNOW ANGELS won the 1993 Pirates Alley William Faulkner Prize for the Novel. He has also written notable nonfiction, specifically THE CIRCUS FIRE, his account of a tragic 1944 fire in Hartford, Connecticut. He has taught at Cornell, the University of Central Oklahoma, and Trinity College. O'Nan says that the two most useful pieces of advice he's had were "both from Russell Banks, and both in the same ten-minute conversation: 1) The ones who make it in this business are the ones who stick with it. And, 2) Don't quit your day job."

Praise

Kirkus Reviews"Patty...lives her commitment to her marriage every day for 28 years, and we believe in it because we believe in the fully dimensional, ordinary but extraordinary character O'Nan has created....Another fine effort from a writer who in ten years has crafted nine novels dramatically different in tone and content but impressively consistent in their moral seriousness and artistic conviction." 01/15/2005

Publishers Weekly"O'Nan has completely captured Patty Dickerson and her dogged determination to endure in this sad but strangely hopeful story." 02/28/2005